In II Sam. 7 the prayer concludes with a supplication: ‘may it please thee to bless . . . for . . . with thy blessing shall the house of thy servant be blessed for ever’ (v. 29). In Chronicles, the conclusion opens from an opposite angle: David regards himself not as someone who is still to be blessed, but as someone who has already received blessing through the very word of God! David, therefore, ends his prayer fully recognizing the grace which he has already received, and blessing God in turn: ‘For you O Lord have blessed and are blessed for ever’ (JPS). The Chronicler thus concluded
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